Frequency of Discharge Causing Abutment Scour in South Carolina
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 10
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the adequacy of the discharge along with the Froehlich bridge abutment scour equation adopted by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) in predicting abutment scour for bridge design purposes in South Carolina streams. The analysis utilized bridge properties, stream cross-sectional and hydraulic data, local flood frequency equations, a one-dimensional steady river flow computer model (WSPRO), and procedures recommended by the FHwA for predicting abutment scour. A method was developed to identify the single stream-discharge at each bridge that can cause the abutment scour that was observed at 73 bridge abutments. Analysis of the results revealed that for one-third of the abutments in the sandy soil region of South Carolina, the flow rates required to produce the observed scour depths had return periods greater than . Although for bridges in the region dominated by clay soil, the return periods were significantly smaller than .
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge the collaboration and assistance of Mr. Steve Benedict of the South Carolina USGS District Office during the conduct of the research leading to the thesis of the first writer.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 10 • October 2008
Pages: 1507 - 1512
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 22, 2006
Accepted: Feb 20, 2008
Published online: Oct 1, 2008
Published in print: Oct 2008
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